Smokeless tobacco is tobacco that is placed in the mouth and not combusted. There are various types of smokeless tobacco, including: chewing tobacco, moist smokeless tobacco, snus, and dry snuff. Chewing tobacco is coarsely divided tobacco leaf that is typically packaged in a large pouch-like package and used in a plug or twist. Moist smokeless tobacco is a moist, more finely divided tobacco that is provided in loose form or in pouch form and is typically packaged in round cans and used as a pinch or in a pouch placed between a cheek and gum of an adult tobacco consumer. Snus is a heat treated smokeless tobacco. Dry snuff is finely ground tobacco that is placed in the mouth or used nasally.
Smokeless tobacco can be pouched in a permeable fabric using a pouching machine where a supply of pouching material is sealed around a deposit of smokeless tobacco material. Such a pouch holds the tobacco in place, while at the same time letting the flavours and substances of the tobacco pass through the walls of the pouch and into the mouth of an adult tobacco consumer. A conventional pouching machine may form a supply of pouching material around a (or the) tube, seal the edges of the pouching material to form a tube of pouching material, form a cross-seal to form a bottom of the pouch, deliver an amount of smokeless tobacco through the tube and into the bottom-sealed pouch, move the bottom-sealed pouch off the tube, and form a second cross seal above the smokeless tobacco to close the pouch. The second cross seal can also be used as the bottom seal for a subsequent pouch as the process continues. Individual pouches can be cut at the cross-seals. FIG. 7 depicts an example of a pouched smokeless tobacco product made using a traditional pouching machine.